As a French princess or prince in the early 18th century, if you wanted to shit in a golden toilet, you simply commissioned a golden toilet. And from lavish latrines alike bore the tropes of the Rococo movement, which stands voluptuous and well hung next to other styles.
Homeland Security, the keen and dynamic little gallery house in The Cedars neighborhood, is curating an exhibit in playful homage titled, "Dirty New Rococo," in the same hood, at 1415 Beaumont today.
The show appears to be a naughty love letter, or perhaps sext, to an all too familiar celebration of spectacle, sensationalism and saturation in the modern art scene. The exhibit, a group show, features nine local and national artists who as described on the event's Facebook page "represent a contrast to this state of affairs by diligently working from within and outside of the current structure."
Homeland Security co-founders Kelly Kroener and Eli Walker are members of Dallas' own band of merry prankster and art makers, S.C.A.B. (Socialized Contemporary Artists Bureau), which is turning the local art scene on its head with an attentive and challenging approach to making, discussing and exhibiting art. So you know this will be a fun and felicitous show.
The nine exhibiting artists include S.C.A.B. members Alexander DiJulio and Samantha McCurdy (of That That Studio), Ruben Melendez (Dallas based sculptor), Brain K. Jones, (one half of Oak Cliff's Chuck & George), Easton Miller (L.A. based artist and 'Beautiful/Decay"), Brain K. Scott (The other half of O.C.'s Chuck and George), Matthew Jansen (Baltimore-based artist and 2010 and 2012 Sondheim Prize finalist), Heyd Fontenot (Artist and Director of UNT's Central Trak) and Edmund Chia (Chicago-based artist and faculty member at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago)
Dirty New Rococo runs till June 21 at 1415 Beaumont St. Reception starts at 4 pm. insatable